Comparison of Technologies for CO2 Capture from Cement Production—Part 2: Cost Analysis

TLDR

The study evaluates the cost performance of five CO₂ capture technologies—MEA absorption, oxyfuel, chilled ammonia, membrane‑assisted liquefaction, and calcium looping—when retrofitted to a cement plant, providing a comprehensive techno‑economic analysis. The authors conduct a techno‑economic assessment of each technology’s capital and operating costs for retrofit into a cement plant, building on the technical foundation presented in Part 1. Clinker cost rises 49–92 % with capture, and avoided CO₂ costs range from 42 €/tCO₂ (oxyfuel) to 84 €/tCO₂ (membrane liquefaction), with MEA at 80 €/tCO₂, highlighting that these figures are highly sensitive to steam source, electricity mix, and plant‑specific factors, underscoring the need for plant‑specific techno‑economic assessments.

Abstract

This paper presents an assessment of the cost performance of CO2 capture technologies when retrofitted to a cement plant: MEA-based absorption, oxyfuel, chilled ammonia-based absorption (Chilled Ammonia Process), membrane-assisted CO2 liquefaction, and calcium looping. While the technical basis for this study is presented in Part 1 of this paper series, this work presents a comprehensive techno-economic analysis of these CO2 capture technologies based on a capital and operating costs evaluation for retrofit in a cement plant. The cost of the cement plant product, clinker, is shown to increase with 49 to 92% compared to the cost of clinker without capture. The cost of CO2 avoided is between 42 €/tCO2 (for the oxyfuel-based capture process) and 84 €/tCO2 (for the membrane-based assisted liquefaction capture process), while the reference MEA-based absorption capture technology has a cost of 80 €/tCO2. Notably, the cost figures depend strongly on factors such as steam source, electricity mix, electricity price, fuel price and plant-specific characteristics. Hence, this confirms the conclusion of the technical evaluation in Part 1 that for final selection of CO2 capture technology at a specific plant, a plant-specific techno-economic evaluation should be performed, also considering more practical considerations.